‘After nearly annihilating the planet, our relatives are friends’: a gripping podcast featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.
During October 1962, the planet came closer toward destruction than at any other point in recent history. This transpired when a US surveillance plane identified that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being assembled on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the US mainland. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy directed a naval task force to establish a maritime blockade encircling Cuba. What followed constituted nearly two weeks filled with impossible stress.
An Unthinkable Danger
The threat remained clear. If President Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on the other side, a cascade of global atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes could have ensued, thrusting mankind toward all-out destruction.
The October crisis has been documented endlessly, in volumes, movies, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought a completely new element to the story. It is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the men who, for 13 days, controlled the fate of humanity within their grasp.
"What were the Soviet side thinking? What was Washington thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor specializing in international affairs.
For her, the strength of the show lies in its attempt to explore: "Why do nations detest each other and go against each other?"
"I am acutely aware how remarkable the fact that humans can be allies or can become complete enemies," adds Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and currently an author and lawyer. "We see this dynamic over and over when countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates the profound irrationality involved to engage in warfare."
The Precipice Towards Catastrophe
What’s notable about this event is that, since it unfolded so publicly, individuals globally were able to observe almost in real time while it edged closer to armageddon. Nonetheless, the danger of destruction was more imminent than what most people realised.
"Almost all officials in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by an invasion," notes Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly the Russians on the ground would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, and that would have destroyed the aircraft carriers and destroyed our largest and most important fleet. And, we would have retaliated with massive retaliation that would have ended most life on the planet."
The fact this did not occur highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to exercise restraint and calmly negotiate when everyone around them demanded action. Consequently, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons from Cuba while President Kennedy (although not reported then) removed his missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was immense, matched by a feeling of optimism.
The Divergent Perspective
Yet, for those 13 days in October, the tension was palpable globally. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world in the years following the crisis, with Khrushcheva being taught about it via the USSR's school curriculum, which painted a slightly different picture of events.
"As you mentioned your father recalls it, describing it as a scary day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union we were told that things are constantly wonderful and sunny."
Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was distinct. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, as it represented a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to find a solution, and didn’t start a global war, seen as a positive outcome," she adds. Later on, however, that interpretation was not held by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."
An Unprecedented Collaboration
The Bomb is remarkably even-handed and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget the known outcome. This effect is, in part, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, truly, the most significant thing remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was inconceivable that relatives of the heads of state of the United States and the USSR to appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a sign of optimism.
"We aren't the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."
"However we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we got along immediately and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, following nearly 60 years of almost destroying the planet, our lineages are now allies, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."
Contemporary Parallels with Present Perils
Is that truly the case? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is that we once again are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to be able to learn